Let me preface this by saying, there were a lot of grand plans for Lincoln under Mark Fields through 2023. Majority of lineup would be rear-wheel drive and not front wheel drive. He's gone now of course.
That car really wasn't supposed to be a Continental, it was only that in name and some added glitz.
In 2008, Lincoln introduced an all-new 2009 MKS sedan as the flagship offering going forward.
- MKS was based on the Ford mid large FWD D3 architecture.
- D3 was based on Volvo P2, introduced on Volvo S80 in 1998, which replaced RWD S90/900-Series
- Developed from 2003 and was launched in June 2008, as an indirect replacement for both 2002 Continental and 2011 Lincoln Town Car.
- Was facelifted in 2012, for '13.
D544 codename Lincoln began development in 2010 as the 2016 MKS.
- New Mid-Large FWD CD4 platform would be the basis, debuting on 2013 Fusion (CD391) in 2012.
- Would share stretched platform basis with D568 Taurus, in parallel development for MY 2016.
- In early 2013, the redesigned 2016 Taurus was rejected in design clinics. Development immediately ceased for USDM. Development in Melbourne continued, production began in China in November 2015
- Vehicle went on sale in China in January 2016 and other territories followed.
- Mark Fields takes over Ford in 2014 as CEO and David Woodhouse as head of Lincoln design from Australian Max Wolff.
- Mark Fields earmarks over $5 billion (£3,126,000,000); (€3,993,000,000) to invest in Lincoln upon his ascension to top office. Including an all-new CD6 rear wheel drive modular unibody architecture that could support FWD/AWD/4WD as well.
- Prior to that, CEO Alan Mulally only invested roughly $500,000,000 or less, mostly during early 2010s in Lincoln.
- Ordered development of an all-new rear wheel drive flagship Lexus LS competitor for July 2020 start of production, under model code CD714 for MY 2021. Nicknamed Town Car internally.
- Orders changes in 2014 to upcoming D544 MKS and undoes design freeze to jazz up the car a bit. Delays redesign until September 2016 as 2017MY, now Continental.
- Continental Concept is developed in the fall of 2014 for New York International Auto Show in April 2015
- Ordered new rear wheel drive compact sedan CD622 as MKZ replacement, called 2021 Zephyr. This iteration of CD6 would be very closely aligned with the all-new 2021 Mustang. Job 1 date was January 2, 2020.
- Increased investment in T3 utility SUVs.
- Ordered top-down rethought of Lincoln brand for facelifted vehicles and ditching of nomenclature for model names.
- Demanded that next generation Explorer (U625) and Lincoln crossover (U611) to be rear-wheel drive. Hint of this leaked to one website in 2014, which was discarded as fake news. Turned out to be very true.
- Ordered in 2015, an all new Mustang for 2021 model year under model code S650. The first fully ground-up redesign since October 2004. Job 1 would eventually be earmarked for December 2020.
- Ordered all new Ford Bronco (U725) for Labor Day 2020 launch and Generation Y crossover CX430 (now Bronco Sport), as well as return of Ford Ranger to the United States as a stopgap (P375N), Ranger Raptor, and green-lighted P703 Ranger redesign for 2021.
As you can see many things happened under the previous Ford CEO, even if Mr. Hackett is currently doing his best to put out exciting products. Truthfully a lot of those ideas started under Mark Fields, who wanted Lincoln to be the standard of luxury by 2020.
Unfortunately a change in regime, in May 2017, resulted in the biggest culling of models in years. New Town Car aluminum monocoque flagship was shuttered, as well as all new Mustang for 2021, new Zephyr, and Continental facelift in 2020. Not to mention several new Ford sedans as well.
The demise of this Continental goes far beyond the model itself and what's happening at Ford and industry in general.
By now you would have seen a perfunctory translation of the Lincoln Aviator and Navigator in sedan form in showrooms this fall, better than what Cadillac put out as the CT6.
New 2021 Zephyr as the sole sporty Lincoln and plans for a 2024 rear-wheel-drive Continental as the midsize offering following FWD D544 facelift.
All new 2021 Mustang with all the bells and whistles, all-wheel drive capability and hybrid to beat new Camaro.
Thanks to all the impartial noise making about ICE and of course Tesla's vast success, coupled with troubled stock price and CUV craze, many of those ambitious projects were cancelled or indefinitely delays in favour of BEVs, CUVs, and turning CX727 BEV compliance car into Mustang Mach E.
As a result, next to no CD6 vehicles were going to come to market by 2020. Serious cost-cutting had to be done with Explorer to offset the expenses being incurred for the new modular architecture, as well as Aviator.
This included skipping pilot processes, which resulted in the horrible snafus of manufacturing during 2019 at Chicago Plant.
Hopefully you can take from this that Lexus is not too different in a sense, where most of the money is going towards either SUVs or mainstream brand products.
The Continental would have lived on if a facelift was approved for 2021, ahead of model year 2024 CD6 redesign in mid 2023.
2021 Town Car vs LS
2024 Continental vs GS
2021 Zephyr vs IS
I have only written what I can legally state publicly without fear of prosecution or termination.